New York Consolidated Laws

N.Y. County Law § 673 (2026)

Deaths concerning which a coroner, coroner and coroner's physician or medical examiner has jurisdiction to investigate

✓ text as retrieved May 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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§ 673. Deaths concerning which a coroner, coroner and coroner's
physician or medical examiner has jurisdiction to investigate. 1. A
coroner or medical examiner has jurisdiction and authority to
investigate the death of every person dying within his county, or whose
body is found within the county, which is or appears to be:
  (a) A violent death, whether by criminal violence, suicide or
casualty;
  (b) A death caused by unlawful act or criminal neglect;
  (c) A death occurring in a suspicious, unusual or unexplained manner;
  (d) A death while unattended by a physician, so far as can be
discovered, or where no physician able to certify the cause of death as
provided in the public health law and in form as prescribed by the
commissioner of health can be found;
  (e) A death of a person confined in a public institution other than a
hospital, infirmary or nursing home.
  2. Except as provided in subdivision one of section six hundred
seventy-four of this article, when a coroner is not a physician duly
licensed to practice medicine in this state, the jurisdiction and
authority specified in this section must be exercised jointly by the
coroner and a coroner's physician.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1988–2016 · leading case: Andre Shipley v. City of New York, 37 N.E.3d 58 (N.Y. 2015).
Andre Shipley v. City of New York, 37 N.E.3d 58 (N.Y. 2015). · cites it 3× “Moreover, under the New York City's local laws and rules the Chief Medical Examiner may perform an autopsy or dissection for those dying "from criminal violence, by accident, by suicide, suddenly when in apparent health, when unattended by a physician, in a correctional facility…”
Cent. Gen. Hosp., Inc. v. Lukash, 140 A.D.2d 113 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dep't 1988). · cites it 4× “The petitioner Central General Hospital, a licensed acute care hospital facility, sought the Nassau County Medical Examiner’s reports of autopsies performed on 17 patients who died between July 1, 1986, and January 14, 1987, while confined to Central General Hospital and whose…”
Untitled New York Attorney Gen. Opinion, No. 2016-4 (N.Y. Att'y Gen. July 2, 2016). “County Law § 673. The coroner, assisted where necessary by the coroner's physician, or the medical examiner also investigates all deaths of inmates of correctional Page 2 facilities within the County, whether or not the death occurred inside the facility.”
Barhome v. Cnty. of Nassau, 219 A.D.2d 693 (N.Y. App. Div. 2d Dep't 1995). “…the medical examiner *694 was authorized, as a matter of law, to perform an autopsy on the plaintiffs husband (see, County Law §§ 673, 674; Nassau County Charter § 906 [2]; Public Health Law §§ 4210, 4210-c). Accordingly, the defendant’s motion for summary judgment…”
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